More awards for Mikie Rowe in USA

By Matt Keane. Published on Friday, December 28th, 2018 at 3:12 pm

Young Harris College men’s soccer player Mikie Rowe will need to clear space on his mantelpiece for more silverware.
He was one of the most popular players ever to wear the Blues jersey and even more big news could be emerging in the near future as his career is really taking off in the USA. The former Waterford United striker earned the two top individual awards from the United Soccer Coaches on Thursday of last week.
Rowe was named the NCAA Division II Men’s National Player of the Year and the NCAA Division II Men’s National Scholar Player of the Year. Rowe will be honoured at the United Soccer Coaches All-America Ceremony and Reception on January 12th, 2019 at McCormick Place West in Chicago in conjunction with the 72nd annual United Soccer Coaches Convention.
Rowe is the second Young Harris player to swipe both awards in the same year since the Mountain Lions became an active NCAA Division II institution five years ago. Ilija Ilic won both awards for YHC back in 2014.Rowe became the 13th player in league history to score 20 or more goals in a season with 22 to lead the PBC in 2018.
Mikie finished third in NCAA Division II with 1.16 goals per game, and fourth in points per game (2.58), goals (22) and points (49). His 22 goal tally was the eighth-highest single-season total in PBC history and his conference-leading 49 points was tied for 11th most.

Named the PBC Player of the Week four times this year and the United Soccer Coaches National Player of the Week on Sept. 13, he also led the PBC in game-winning goals and shots. The 2018 United Soccer Coaches first team All-American, the 2018 United Soccer Coaches first team Scholar All-American, and the 2018 Google Cloud second team Academic All-American, was the fourth Mountain Lion to be named the PBC Player of the Year and kept the award at Young Harris for the fifth time in the last six years. Rowe earned the league’s Select Sports Golden Ball Award for scoring the most goals.

In his career in the Enchanted Valley, Rowe played in 78 matches with 63 starts. In 4,293 minutes of action, Rowe scored 46 goals and assisted on 13 others for 105 points with 12 game-winning goals. He is second all-time in the YHC NCAA-era record book in goals and points, third in game-winning goals and 10th in assists.
The Mountain Lions finished the season at 17-1-1 and ranked No. 7 in the final United Soccer Coaches Division II poll. The Mountain Lions captured their fourth Peach Belt Conference regular-season and tournament titles as they earned the No. 1 seed from the Southeast region in NCAA Division II Tournament in 2018. It was the fourth trip for Young Harris to the NCAA Tournament.